“Thirty Minutes in the Life” features ladies from around the world as we capture 30 minutes in our lives as mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and friends {and photographers}. This is a blog circle so please be sure to visit the next photographer in the circle.
This may not be a traditional 30 Minutes in the Life documentary; this is 30 minutes inside my process.
I often get asked about my thought process when I’m creating abstract images: do you set out with the intention to capture an abstract image? Do you have something particular in mind or a particular technique that you want to try? What is your motivation? The answer is: it varies. If I plan a trip to the beach or to see the sunset somewhere pretty, I have every intention of capturing it in a creative way, but other times, the compulsion comes completely out of the blue and at a time when I least expect it.
Last weekend we went London for the day. We went to the Natural History Museum, showed the boys where I use to work nearby, and then went over the road to the Albert Memorial and had ice cream by the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. I documented the day through photographs, as you would expect, and I planned to use one element of that adventure to share with you, and I probably will soon enough. However, on our way home, driving down the M3 with weary feet and through bleary eyes, I found the cloudy tones of grey and the whooshing of the traffic capturing my imagination and compelling me to pick up my camera. It was either that or a power nap! I hadn’t set out that morning with that intention; it was in that moment, feeling compelled to capture that feeling: how the motion of the motorway made me feel after a long and tiring day.
Of course, my thought process and motivation will be different on any given day. I photographed the same section of road just a few weeks ago – maybe it’s something about the boredom of the M3 – but on that day it was the speeding lights that made me pick up my camera (and it hadn’t even dawned on me that it was the same road until now).
Thank you for joining me again this month. Up next in the blog circle is the fabulous Sonia Epple Fotografie. Please click here to visit Sonia’s page. Want some more amazing inspiration? Keep following the circle to see what other photographers from around the world have shared this month – and don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages!
